Thursday, 20 October 2016

Catnip Capers Backgrounds

What imaginative cartoon released in 1940 featured a cat, a mouse and a wild chase? “Puss Gets the Boot” you say? Nah, we’re not talking about Tom and Jerry. We’re talking about the Terrytoon “Catnip Capers.” It has imaginative camera work, great dance sequences featuring the cat and a girl cat, morphing characters and perspective animation.

The backgrounds are very good, too. The plot turns a bit when the cat sniffs some catnip. Suddenly, he’s hallucinating. The walls and doors of his home become wonky.

A pink elephant with a carpet on its back appears and takes the cat, through a dissolving background, into the sky. The elephant disappears but the carpet remains to take the cat on a ride into an Arabian castle.

After dancing with the girl cat, the floor opens up. The cat tumbles into some kind of hellish place populated with huge mice.

As usual at Terry, the background artist doesn’t get a well-deserved credit. And, unfortunately, the Terry cartoons have never been released on DVD.